Monday, August 04, 2008

Modern Miniatures on Monday: Parade of Houses, Part Seven

Helsinki, Finland. May 24th 2003. I visit a small miniature shop called PienenPieni and spy a tiny vintage Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair in a display cabinet. I'm intrigued. The chair is not for sale. I'm told they picked it up at a market.

Copenhagen, Denmark. May 28th 2003. I travel to a seaside village called Klampenborg on an Arne Jacobsen pilgrimage. At Restaurant Jacobsen I order coffee. And spy these on display:Also not for sale. Also picked up at a market. No markings. The plot thickens.

Later, after I arrive home, I do some detective work and (finally!) discover all the pieces are by Brio. A company you might be more familiar with today as producers of wooden children's train sets.

This is my first of two Brio houses, bought in early 2004 off US eBay:It spent 18 months in my friend Nancy's basement in Philadelphia until I could pick it up in May 2006, due to USPS rules about the size of parcels they would accept for international delivery (you might remember meeting it here) It was unfurnished apart from the (Brio) bathroom set.

Although Brio dolls houses, as a whole, remain a bit of a mystery, it's easy to identify one. Turn it round and the back probably looks like this:Oh, and (of course!) I also managed to track down my own pieces of Arne Jacobsen designed Brio furniture, mainly from Tradera in the days when it was more English-friendly and my budget was without extra rent,car payments, rego and insurance and so could cope with some slightly scary (or so it seemed at the time) prices.(for more information on individual items, please pop over to my Flickr set)I'm loving this teal vessel collection...

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